Rider s shoe



(No Model.)

J. B. RATHBUN. RIDBRS SHOE.

No. 589,443. Patented Sept. 7,1897.

Q vi'bmeooeo 5440a 14: {oz MM 351i afloat; )W B W W W M 5 4m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JAMES B. RATIIBUN, OF TRENTON, NEV YORK.

RlD'E RS SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,443, dated September '7, 1897. Application filed November 14, 1896. Serial No. 61,2,123. [No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. RATHBUN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Trenton, in the county of Oneida and State New York, have invented certain new and of useful Improvements in Riders Shoes, of which the following is-a specification.

My invention is especially intended to be applied to shoes for bicycle-riders, and will be herein described as so applied, although it is equally well adapted to boots or shoes for riders of horses, its object being directed to aiford a firm foothold to the boot or shoe upon a foot-bar, which may constitute the crank-pin of a bicycle or a base part of a stirrup. To accomplish this object, I provide the sole of the shoe with a device-which is adapted to engage with the said foot-bar, and thus effect a temporary connection of the shoe with the bar, this device being composed of a transverse groove in the bottom of the sole of the shoe, the groove being reinforced by means of a plate, as of metal, attached. to the sole.

When my invention is applied to a bicycleshoe, the usual pedal, such as that known as a rat-trap, and other like appurtenances may be dispensed with, since the shoe is adapted to engage directly With the crank-pin or what is generally known as the pedalaxle of the bicycle.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown my invention as applied to a bicycle-shoe, Figure I represents a side'view of the shoe. Fig. II represents a bottom view thereof. Fig. 111 represents a side view of a crank-pin adapted to the purpose of my in- Vention.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts.

The letter A indicates the upper, andB the sole, of the'shoe, which may be of any. usual or suitable shape.

0 indicates the transverse groove,formed in the bottom of the sole, and D indicates the reinforcing-plate. The groove 0 is of a proper dimension to receive the desired foot-bar, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. I,which bar may be the crank-pin illustrated in Fig. III, and it will be readily understood that by the ensuing engagement of the groove of the shoe with the foot-bar a very firm hold is aiforded thereto in the employment of a plain bar without any other form of pedal.

The reinforcing-plate D may be a piece of sheet metal or other similar material, and it is attached to the shoe-sole at the opposite sides of the groove 0 by means of nails or other suitable fastenings. The location of the transverse groove 0 is at a point approximately opposite to the ball of the foot, and it may extend atright angles to the longitudinal plane of the shoe,as shown, or diagonal to said plane,and,if desired,two or more grooves may be employed. The groove or grooves, moreover, may be roughened to increase the frictional contact thereof with the foot-bar.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A boot or shoe having its sole provided with a transverse groove, for the purpose specified, and with a reinforcing-plate in said groove, substantially as herein described.

JAMES B. RATHBUN.

Witnesses:

CHARLES G. COE, CHAS. WAHLERS. 

